Prompts: Family visit. Haunted house maze. “Please. Please don’t.”
Group: E
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(Not) According to Plan
Gideon French and Neal Gold had been best friends for almost one year, during which their respective parents had grown used to the endless litany of just five more minutes, please, we’re playing pirates and can’t we stay over for dinner? They had accepted them with resignation first, and poorly-hidden enthusiasm later. It hadn’t been lost on Neal and Gideon how much their parents seemed to enjoy each other’s company, nor the fact that if they got married they’d both gain a parent and become brothers; it was a triple-win situation. For this reason, unbeknownst to their parents, they had come up with a long and detailed list of ways to bring Belle French and Robert Gold closer. However, not only had all of their attempts spectacularly failed so far, but one unforeseen obstacle now threatened to thwart their plans for Halloween: Neal’s mother and her boyfriend were visiting for the holiday. There was no chance to organize something without involving the two of them, and Milah’s presence usually put Neal’s father in a bad mood (he always tried to hide it, of course, but Neal wasn’t stupid).
After a long debate, they had decided that their best bet was the haunted house maze. There would be so much going on around them that there would be no time for awkward conversations, and Neal’s dad could impress Belle by showing her how brave he was (that’s how it happened in movies, wasn’t it? The girl always fell for the guy who was brave enough to save her). It was a foolproof plan.
Except it wasn’t.
In fact, they ran into the first obstacle right at the start, when Neal’s father said that he wouldn’t be coming, since Milah and Killian were there to keep an eye on him anyway. It took Neal a considerable effort to convince him, which was strange enough; pouting for any longer than five minutes usually did the trick, but not this time, which Neal found odd. Once he’d finally convinced his father to come along, he was sure that nothing else could possibly go wrong; once again, he was mistaken. Because Neal wasn’t stupid, but he was too young and too distracted to notice the way his papa paled as he stepped inside the haunted house, or how his sweaty hand clenched around the handle of his cane; he didn’t even notice when he started trailing behind the group, no longer walking side by side with Belle.
The sound of a cane hitting something could easily be missed in the chaos of the maze, as could a scream of pain, but there was no way Neal could miss the tinge of panic in his father’s voice. He turned around and saw Leroy, still in his zombie costume, sitting on the ground with what looked like real blood coming out of his nose while glaring daggers at Robert, who was stammering some kind of apology.
Wonderful, just wonderful, Neal thought, as he exchanged a disappointed look with Gideon. They’d brought them here so his papa could be brave, and instead he’d been more scared than some of Neal’s classmates, and had ended up hurting one of Belle’s best friends (of all people!). Robert and Belle insisted that the others continue with the maze as they brought Leroy to see a doctor but, for Gideon and Neal, the rest of the afternoon was not nearly as exciting as they’d hoped.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, their plan was somehow working. As the doctor visited Leroy, Belle and Robert were left alone.
“Don’t torment yourself. You were scared and did something stupid; it happens to all of us,” Belle said, plopping down on the chair next to him.
“Please, please don’t. I don’t need you to lie to me to make me feel better.” Robert was not looking at her, focusing instead on the cane in his hands.
“You should know by now that I am a terrible liar. What I’m trying to say is: don’t waste more energy blaming yourself for your mistakes than learning from them. I’m speaking from experience.”
“And what exactly am I supposed to learn from this?”
“Maybe avoid haunted houses from now on?”
Robert sighed, finally looking up at her. “I knew that already.”
“Then why did you come along?”
“Neal insisted, and I didn’t find it in myself to tell him no. He’s still at that age where he thinks I can do anything, and I didn’t want to disappoint him.”
It was Belle’s turn to sigh. “Yeah, tell me about it.”
“I don’t see how you could possibly fear disappointing Gideon; he loves you, as does everyone in this town.”
“Yes but… how long will it last? He knows his dad is not in the picture, and I am so grateful that he has never blamed himself for it, but I can’t help but wonder if one day he’s going to blame me. Getting knocked up halfway through college by a guy that disappears as soon as he knows about it is not exactly stellar mother behavior, is it?”
“About that, my offer still stands. I can track the bastard down and have him pay for everything he owes you and Gideon.”
“And let him anywhere near my son? Not a chance. He made his choice, and if he ever changes his mind he’ll have to do a lot more than toss a few bills at me to be let anywhere near Gideon.”
Belle was so caught up in that scenario that she didn’t notice the way Robert looked at her as she spoke; if she had, Neal and Gideon might have called the afternoon a complete success.
“Well, if you need to beat him off with a cane you know where to find one.”
The words had left his mouth before he could think twice about them, and there was a terrible second in which he assumed Belle would resent him for making a joke out of hurting her friend. She laughed instead, and he found himself smiling with her. Belle had this sort of power over him; she could turn his worst moments into cherished memories. A better man than he would have been more preoccupied with breaking someone’s nose than with making a beautiful woman smile; such a man, maybe, would even have the courage to talk to Belle about his feelings, and some hope that they could be reciprocated. Robert, who was nothing like the knight his son imagined him to be, would content himself with keeping that image up for as long as he could, both for Neal and for Belle. It was all he could hope for.
Hey Thin Mint! I'm so happy that one of us was the wild card and we'll both get to move on to the next round! You did a great job with your round two fic. I can't wait to see what kind of story you come up with for your prompt!
~~~~The_Wonderous_Trianne
I’m loving the love that competitors are showing each other!
